Forum » s leading scorer, didnt score at all and rema

KAMLOOPS, B.C. -- John Morris is now just one game away from bringing British Columbia their fifth Canadian mens curling championship, after handing Albertas Kevin Koe his second loss of the day Friday. "Hopefully we can play the same come 4:30 Sunday," said B.C. fourth stone Jim Cotter. "Ive never been in a Brier final myself so were still soaking it in right now." "We got a little fortunate this morning," added skip and third stone Morris, thanking Quebec for getting them in the 1-2 game by beating Alberta earlier in the day. "Coming out of the gate strong and being sharp like that, having the draw weight was important, and Jimmy made a couple of bonus highlight reel shots." He also liked the energy from the almost packed house, by far the biggest crowd of the week at the Interior Savings Centre. More than 4,300 filled the 5,000-seat arena and loudly cheered B.C. and Cotter, a Kamloops native. B.C. scored two in the first end with the hammer and stole another in the second when Koes draw to the button was millimetres short. With a three in the fourth set up by one of Cotters house-clearing highlight reel shots, Morris was up 6-1 and it looked like the 1-2 Page playoff game was over except for the handshake. But Koe finally picked up a deuce in five off a miss on a half-rock double by Cotter and a steal in eight kept it going through nine, when Koe conceded after B.C. picked up one to make it 9-5. "I struggled a bit, kind of the wrong side of the inch there tonight," said the Alberta skip, who won the Brier and a world championship in 2010. "Obviously they werent missing much so we were in trouble when we werent playing our best." Alberta also dropped their last round-robin game to Quebec Friday, which cost them the hammer in the evening 1-2 Page playoff game and got B.C. into the game. B.C., Manitoba and Alberta all finished at 9-2 and a tiebreaking formula was used to rank them. Had Alberta beat Quebec, they would have faced Manitoba. Alberta will now have to play the winner of the Manitoba-Quebec 3-4 game Saturday. The winner of that semifinal will face Morris Sunday in the final. "Today wasnt our day but fortunately we put ourselves in a position where we have another life," Koe said. "Weve done well in the semis at the Brier before." The last B.C. rink to win the Brier was Greg McAulay in 2000, who went on to become world champion that year. Coincidentally, Both McAulay and Morris were born in Winnipeg. Earlier Friday, within the span of a minute or two, Saskatchewan was out and Quebec was in the playoffs, and only partly because of Jean-Michel Menards 7-5 upset win over Alberta. Even with Quebecs victory, Saskatchewan skip Steve Laycock was up one with the hammer and had an open draw against three to beat New Brunswick and force Menard into a tiebreaker. Laycock was heavy with the final stone and it proved costly. "We knew that we had to win," said Laycock. "We knew it was in our control to try and get in that tiebreaker and just didnt finish that game out, a really poor last end." Saskatchewan finished at 6-5, tied with Newfoundland and Labradors Brad Gushue and New Brunswicks Jamie Grattan. Had Menard lost, there could have been a four-way tie for fourth place and a round of afternoon tiebreakers. Instead hell now get to play Manitobas Jeff Stoughton Saturday in the 3-4 Page playoff game. Stoughton took it in stride, although Albertas loss also cost him the spot in the 1-2 game. "Quebecs a great team and Kevins team just wasnt quite as sharp as they had been all week and Quebec got them, so we get to play Quebec now," said Stoughton, a three-time Brier winner and two-time world champion. "Its good though, because they beat us earlier so we can get a little revenge on them at this game." Menard, the 2006 champion whos making his fifth Brier appearance for Quebec, was 7-4, although he also beat each of the top three teams in the round robin. "Our goal was to make it to the playoffs and there you never know whats going to happen ... if theres still some magic in our bag well try to use it," he said. Menard seemed in control throughout the game and got a boost with a three-point end in the fifth. Koe, who was solid all week, finished with a 76 per cent rating and his teammates struggled as well. Prince Edward Islands Eddie MacKenzie (4-7) finished the round robin with an 11-7 win over Jamie Koe of Northwest Territories/Yukon (3-8). Ontarios Greg Balsdon (5-6) capped his Brier debut with a 9-6 win over Jamie Murphys winless Nova Scotia team (0-11). Northern Ontario was also well back at 2-9. <a href="http://www.officiallaramspro.com/Gerald-everett-rams-jersey/">Gerald Everett Jersey</a>. The Argentina striker has not played for the Premier League leaders since September when he refused to warm up during a Champions League match and only returned last week from a three-month unauthorized absence at home. City coach Roberto Mancini had initially told Tevez he would never play for City again after his act of public insubordination, but later softened his stance and only asked for an apology. <a href="http://www.officiallaramspro.com/">Los Angeles Rams Jerseys</a>. With the win, the Marlies complete a three-game series sweep of the Admirals and move on to the second round of the Calder Cup playoffs. T.J. Brennan added an empty netter with less than 25 seconds remaining for his second of the playoffs. http://www.officiallaramspro.com/Robert-woods-rams-jersey/. -- Arizona coach Bruce Arians says there "were obviously very, very many problems" with the officiating in the Cardinals 24-21 loss at Philadelphia. <a href="http://www.officiallaramspro.com/Cooper-kupp-rams-jersey/">Cooper Kupp Jersey</a>.com) - Klay Thompson is quickly proving he is worth every penny of his recently signed four-year contract extension. <a href="http://www.officiallaramspro.com/Nolan-cromwell-rams-jersey/">Nolan Cromwell Jersey</a>. But San Diego had even more trouble against right-hander Tanner Roark, who pitched a three-hitter for the first complete game of his career as the Nationals shut out the Padres 4-0. The 27-year-old set down the first 16 batters before San Diego catcher Rene Rivera, an .PHILADELPHIA -- Darrun Hilliard watched intently Saturday night as the Philadelphia 76ers retired Allen Iversons number at the Wells Fargo Center. Less than 24 hours later, in the same arena, he tried to recreate the magic of his all-time favourite player. Hilliard scored a career-high 26 points and No. 8 Villanova set a school record for regular-season wins with a 73-56 victory over Marquette on Sunday. "AI was the man," Hilliard said. "That was my favourite player. Seeing him go out and be the smallest guy on the court and doing what he did with everything against him, it was something I looked up to. So its pretty cool to be in this building." Josh Hart added 13 points and JayVaughn Pinkston had 11 points and seven rebounds for the Wildcats (26-3, 14-2 Big East), who have won four straight and 10 of 11. The Wildcats had never won 26 regular-season games in the 95-year history of the program. Villanova won 25 games four previous times, most recently in 2008-09, a season it reached the Final Four. Deonte Burton scored 13 points for Marquette (17-12, 9-7) and Todd Mayo finished with 11 points and five rebounds. "I was proud of that effort," Villanova coach Jay Wright said. "I know Marquettes a good, hungry team and they play hard. Its hard to match that level." Playing in the home of the 76ers Hilliard almost looked like an NBA guard with the kind of show he put on for the fans. The 6-foot-6 junior guard had 18 points in first half, shot 5 for 8 from 3-point range for the game and set his career high with a dazzling drive that put the Wildcats up 66-47 with 4:58 left. Hilliards previous career high of 25 points came in an upset win over Syracuse last season -- also at the Wells Fargo Center. "Darrun was on fire today," Hart said. "When you have someone whos 5 for 8 from 3s, the defence is really focusing in on him so that allowed me to get open shots." Villanova was 12 of 29 from 3-point range. Trying to make a late push to get into the NCAA tournament for the ninth straight year, Marquette came in having won five of six, including an important two-point victory over Georgetown on Thursday. But the Golden Eagles never threatened to upset the Wildcats, shooting just 4 for 15 from 3-point range and 16 for 25 from the free throw line. They committedd 15 turnovers.dddddddddddd "I would say the number one disappointment is we didnt play as hard as we have to play on the road to beat a team as good as Villanova," Marquette coach Buzz Williams said. After falling behind by 11 points at halftime, Marquette made just one field goal through the first 5 minutes of the second half to allow Villanova to open a 48-29 lead. Villanova led by double digits the rest of the way to move one full game ahead of No. 9 Creighton for first place in the Big East. The Wildcats only two conference losses have come to Creighton, which fell out of first place after losing to Xavier on Saturday. "I dont think theyre going to win our league or theyre eighth in the country based on one number," Williams said. "I think theyre really good in each phase of the game but I also think they play for one another. I think they play incredibly hard and I think they play with great spirit." Hilliard and Hart combined to score Villanovas first 20 points, before Pinkston and Tony Chennault scored the next nine for the Wildcats. Daniel Ochefu then forced a steal, ran ahead of the pack and had a transition dunk to cap a 17-4 run and send Villanova to a 31-18 lead with 3:18 left in the first half. The Golden Eagles cut the deficit to six points a couple of minutes later, but Hilliard scored five straight points to close the half, hitting two free throws after Williams was called for a technical foul and drilling a 3-pointer with 2 seconds remaining. "I thought that series was important for us," Wright said. "We were struggling a little and they were coming back." The Wildcats led 36-25 at halftime despite foul-plagued starting guards Ryan Arcidiacono and James Bell playing just 6 and 5 minutes, respectively. Neither scored in the first half and Bell, the teams leading scorer, didnt score at all and remains six points shy of 1,000 points for his career. "In the first half, when we were playing without James Bell and Ryan Arch, I thought our energy level actually went up," Wright said. "I thought we were actually a quicker team. And then those guys were really fresh in the second half. "Weve been trying to build our depth throughout the season and that was really important to have that first half like that." <a href="http://www.chinawholesalejerseysnfl.com/">Wholesale Jerseys</a> ' ' '